THEBIGGERISSUE.ORG: Maspindzeli. By Uncle Monty.

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Maspindzeli.

By Uncle Monty.

Photos By Alex Albion.
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The Georgian Folk Song Concert
In Honour of His Holiness & Beatitude
Patriarch ILIA II of All-Georgia on His
Ecumenical Five-Day London Visit, 2011.
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Suffering from what appears to be mild Parkin-

son's, His Holiness & Beatitude Patriarch ILIA II

arrived with his patriarchal entourage and anointed
bodyguards to attend the Georgian Folk Song
Concert held in his honour on the final day
of his official five-day London visit, 2011,
as the autocephalous head of the Georgia
Orthodox Patriarchate.

:: ILIA II's Unofficial Bio ::

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilia_II_of_Georgia

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Arriving with dignified fanfare, some 1,800
orthodox and ecumenical faithful openly
greeted His Holiness with their adoration
and deep respect for him. Bowing and
scraping at every turn to the elderly
patriarch, those gathered at the concert
were honoured to have him present and
his patriarchal clergy, who were all

clerically black-clad from head to toe.

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When I received the ecumenical invitatiion
to hobnob with His Holiness and to attend
the Maspindzeli concert, I quickly and
happily accepted such with much
personal delight. Such was held last
night at London's Smith Square.

...

Just moments after parking Contessa

Maria's old jalopy (shown above in the

lead photo caption), there was the patriarch

in all his glory standing momentarily in front

of me as his handlers then escorted him

reverentially to his prepared seat among

the people and not cloistered out of sight

from them. I later encountered the

partiarch closely at the close of his

speech in Georgian which was translated

by his personal interpreter into English.

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The Patriarch's Vicar-General & Ecumenical Envoy.

None of the folksongs or singing was detected in English save only in the native Georgian idiom, naturally. Anybody who attended the concert expecting to hear such in English was in for a rude awakening. And so, those Georgian folksongs were called Chakrulo, Vagiorko Ma, Satrfialo, Odoia, Rachvelian, Khasanbegura, Shemokmedura, and Chela. Thus in English such songs would be called: Holy God, Hymn of the Cherubims, You Are The Vineyard, Though Thou Didst Descent, and This Is A Holy Day. Those songs came from such regions of Georgia as Kartli-Kakheti, Samegrelo, and Guria. Most of the singing was done without musical instrumentation, except for the occasional native homemade string instrument that I didn't know the correct name for. Abit of Gurian circle dancing was done, too. Over 20 folksongs covered the 2¾-hour long Georgian Folk Song Concert. Those present were a pretty happy lot and I was surprised at how many Georgians now call London their home-sweet-home. This concert also happened to be my first one of this relatively new year 2011.

Maspindzeli Choir.

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Native Georgian Folksingers.

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Russian Orthodox Very Rev'd Maxim N. Kolsky, 72.

I got to talk to a number of the patriarchal clergy

including the Very Rev'd Maxim N. Kolsky (shown

above) and Archpriest Michael Popkhadze, 69. I was

told that of the 15 Autocephalous Orthodox jurisdictions

that they tallied together to be the second largest

Christian denomination in the world with the Russian

Orthodox Church alone claiming more than 150

million adherents. Unlike some other Orthodox juris-

dictions and their strict dogmas that prohibit the mix-

ing of the male and female gender inside their churches

and at their religious services, The Georgian

Orthodox Church allows and encourages men and

women to present and to worship together for all

church occasions and services. The exception, of

course, is the sacred priesthood at where women

are barred from the clergy and the episcopate.

Such is true of all Orthodox Christian jurisdictions

around the world. While the Anglican Church is

always in a tizzy with the constant demands now

to consecrate women as bishops like we already

see, for example, in the radical and ultraliberal

ECUSA - The Episcopal Church, USA. Our

Orthodox friends aren't interested or moved

to copy anything to do with such Western

ideology and political correctness, thankfully!!

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Georgian Folk Quartet.

What I liked so much about the concert was how unusual such was compared to the many others I have seen. This was because it was the one and only concert that I've ever attended at where English was submerged under the weight of some other language and singing. In this case, of course, strictly Georgian! I so enjoyed meeting so many Orthodox Christians there being an avid Anglican like I am. But above all, it was His Holiness & Beatitude Patriarch ILIA II that I so enjoyed encountering for the first, and also probably for the last time, at The Georgian Folk Song Concert that was so rightly held in his gracious honour at the final day of his official 5 day London visit. BRAVO!!! And, do get better my good patriarch!

ine Georgian Folksinger.